Sectional hot-water furnace.



C. PHELPS.

SECTIONAL HOT WATER FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3. 1911.

1,203,044. Patented Oct. 31,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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C. PHELPS.

SECTIONAL HOT WATER FURNACE.

AFPLICATION FILED JAN. 3. 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

CHARLES PHELPS, or OSKALOOSA, IOWA.-

SECTIONAL HOT-WATER FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 31, 19 16.

Application filedJ'anuary 3, 1911. SerialNo. 600,560.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatl, CHARLES PHELPS, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Oskaloosa, in the county of Mahaska and State of lowa, have invented. a certain new and useful Sectional Hot-VVater F urnace, of which the following; is a specification.

Theobject of my invention isto provide a furnace of this class in which oneof the sections, for instance, the rear one, may be made strong, and heavy to" receive and support thevarious water pipes and the smoke fiue'and the other sections may be made rela' tively light, simple and inexpensive and may be readily, easily and quickly attached to or detached from the rear section or each other as they are not subjected to strains by connecting or disconnecting'water pipes with them and as there are no water pipes to be unscrewed from them when they are detached.

A further object is toprovide a furnace ofth'isclass in which the circulation of both the products of combustion through the interior of the furnace and the water through the furnace 'wa'llsis' completeand thorough rev gardless of sections of which the-furnace is constructed.

' A furtherobject is to provide improved and simplified means for readily, quickly and easily connecting the furnace sections with each other, or detachingthem;

A further-object is to provide a furnace of this class in whiclnif any one ofthe sections is injuredor broken, the particular sectionmay bercadily and easily removed andtheother sections moved together without the necessity of connecting or disconnectingthe water circulation pipes. I

A further object is to provide'furnace sections and a grate member for each section so arranged that-the grate members of all of the sectionsmaybe readily connected or disconnected withoutbolts' or other fastening devices sothat each of the sections may be jointly locked'by an operator at one end of the 'fu'rnace.

My invention consistsin certain details, in the construction, arrangement. and combinationof the -variousparts of the device,wliere by the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my 'claims' and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure -1 shows side elevationof a 'furnace" embodying mylnvention. Fig. 2 shows 6 shows a vertical, sectional view illustrating' a portion of the furnace front and a number of central furnace sections connected therewith to illustrate the means for con- 1 necting the rocking grate members. Fig. 7 shows a detail view of the downwardly projecting arm of one of the grate members and the adjacentends of the links for connecting said arms together, and 8 shows'a detail, frontview of one of the projecting arms below the grates to illustrate the form of the slot or opening therein.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I shall first describe one of the central furnace sections. Each of said sections comprises two fiat side members 10 of solid material having formed on its inner face a water chamber 1.1, said chamber being tapered toward the inner edge thereof as shown in Fig. 1. Near the bottom of the side 10 the water chamber is enlargedand made rectangular in cross. section as shown at'12 in Fig. 6 so thatthe sides of the two adjacent sections at this point are flush with eaoh'other. Thetop surface of the part 12 at the sides of the part 11 are tapered downwa-rdly and inwardly at 13 to thereby prevent the accumulation of ashes and dust. In eachof the-sides of the parts 12 I provide openings in line with each other designed to receive short tapered push nipples 14, as shown in Figi5, for providing communication from one ofthe water chambers to the adjacent one. At the upper end of each side of each section is a hollow rectangular water chamber 15 having openings 16 therein similar to the openings in the lowerportions just-described. At the top of each section between-the parts 15 is a water'circulating chamber consisting of a flat topped member 17 and a part 18 having downwardly extending sides converging toward the bottom as" shown in Fig; 8. At a point spaced below the said upper water chamber is an integral water chamber 19 communicating at both ends with the water chambers 11 and having its sides converging downwardly and toward each other. On the outer surface of each section are two lugs 20, each preferably having two bolt holes 21 therein and on the lower end of each side of each section are two lugs 22, each provided with two bolt holes 23. A supporting leg 24 is also formed on the lower end of each side of each section to rest on a suitable foundation such, for instance, as that indicated at 25 in Fig. 1. Formed on the inner face of each side of each section are lugs 26 adapted to receive a grate section hereinafter described.

In order to provide for causing the prod nets of combustion to pass close to the sides of the section and also to prevent countercurrents of the products of combustion within the furnace, I have provided at the top of each of the water chambers 19 a flat deflector plate 27 with its ends spaced apart from the ends of the water chamber 19 and provided at each end with an extension 28 projected upwardly and toward the center of the furnace, its upper end being spaced apart a considerable distance from the top of the furnace section. The side edges of the various plates 27 are so arranged that they will engage each other and thus prevent the passage of the products of combustion upwardly between them. Further, the side edges of the water chambers 19 of two adjacent sections are spaced apart so that the products of combustion may readily and easily pass upwardly at the ends of the plates 27.

The rear section of the furnace is preferably made much stronger and heavier than the intermediate sections. Each rear section comprises a hollow body portion 29 extended below the parts 12 of the intermediate sections and provided with a downwardly extended flange 30 projected below the body portion and designed to serve as an end for the ash pit of the furnace. At the top of said back section is a rectangular water chamber 31 and spaced below it is a rectangular water chamber 32 substantially in line with the water chambers 19 of the intermediate sections. Between the water chambers 31 and 32 is the flue connection 33 of ordinary construction. The numeral 3A indicates a cold water pipe provided with a branch 35 and connected with the branch nace front comprises a solid front member shaped to fit against the adjacent intermediate section and having the usual fuel door 38, ash pit door 39 and clean-out door 4L0. It is also preferably provided with a downwardly extended flange 11 to engage the front of the supporting wall for the furnace.

t is also preferably provided with a lug 42 to which a lever 13 is attached for shaking the grate.

In each of the intermediate furnace sections is a rocking grate member A l of ordinary construction supported in the lugs 26. Each of said grate members has a downwardly projecting arm 15. At the lower end of the arm. is a slot consisting of a vertical elongated portion 16 and a lateral extension at 17 of less height vertically as shown in Fig. 8.

In order to connect these arms-with each other and with the lever 43 I provide a link 18 pivoted to the lever i3 and having a notch 49 at its lower end as shown in Fig. 7. This link is of such size that it may be inserted through the slot 46 until the notch 49 is in the slot, then it may be moved laterally into the part 47 of the slot and when in this positien it will be held against longitudinal movement. To prevent it from moving back into the elongated portion 16 of the slot I provide a second link 50 having at one end an oval slot 51 with a narrow opening 52 at one side. The end of the link provided with this slot may then beinserted in the elongated portion as ofthe slot in the manner indicated in Fig. 7 and turned to posi tion at right angles, as shown by dotted lines in said figure, thus preventing the link 18 from moving into the elongated portion of the slot and also providing a connection betweenthe adjacent ends of said links and the said arm 15. In this way all of the grates may be connected with each other without the use of tools and without the use of bolts, pins or other fastening devices.

in practical operation I proceed to erect my improved furnace by first placing the rear section in position and then connecting with it the various pipes for water and for the products of combustion. After this is done I place the first intermediate section in position by first inserting four tapered nipples 14L in the various water connection openings-between the two sections. I then press the intermediate section toward the rear section until the adjacent faces of the sections are close together. In this way watertight means are formed between the circulating openings of the two sections. The other intermediate sections may then be connected in the same manner. After they are placed in position I insert bolts 53 in the lugs 20 and 22 as shown in Fig. 1. These bolts serve the double function of assisting in drawing the sections together and of firmly holding them'when in position. The bolts are short and run from one section to the other only so that the bolts of any one section may readily, quickly and easily be removed to permit the removal of any particular section without affecting the means that connect the other sections together; that is to say, if it is desired to remove a section in the middle of a furnace the bolts that are connected with it may be withdrawn, then the front and rear portions of the furnace forced apart without disconnecting the sections either in front or in the rear, then the desired section may be removed and the furnace reconnected without the damaged or removed section and the furnace may be placed in condition for operation in a very short time. A new section may of course be replaced where the old one was removed if desired.

When a fire is made on the grate the products of combustion will all pass straight upwardly through the space between the ends of the plates 27 and the adjacent side of the furnace into the chamber above the water chambers 19.

In order to prevent the products of combustion from passing straight into the flue I provide the deflector plates 28 which obviously cause the products of combustion to pass upwardly overthem and into the space between the plates 28 so that there willbe a direct current of the products of combustion passing to the flue which will prevent said direct current from interfering with the rising currents at the sides of the furnace sections. In this Way I avoid countercurrents of the products of combustion such as would be the case if the plates 28 were omitted and the direct current passing from front to rear would move past the points Where the rising currents passed the ends of the plates 27.

Furthermore I provide a perfect circulation of water and prevent cross currents therein by providing passageways direct for the cold water from the rear through the lower ends of all of the sectionsand also permit a portion of this current to rise at each section and at the top of the furnace the hot water will flow 'rearvvardly from front to rear and will be joined by the rising currents of water in each side of each section.

I claim as my invention:

A sectional furnace comprising a series of detachable sections, each having at its side and top water chambers arranged in communication with each other, each having a transverse intermediate water chamber, spaced from the top water chamber, plates mounted on the upper central portion of the intermediate water chambers, said plates,

having at their ends portions inclined upwardly and toward each other, said plates overlapping said intermediate chambers, so that their edges engage for maintaining a continuous upwardly opening channel through the furnace, said intermediate water chambers being of such width that flue spaces are formed at each end of the horizontal portions of the plates.

Des Moines, Iowa, November 22, 1910.

CHARLES PHELPS. Witnesses J. M. MGCLELLAND, C. IV. MoCoRD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

